NBA Free-Agency Winners

[ElNono]

OK, I ran the math on this one. RJ's 2010-2011 cost was going to be $22.8M, 15.2M in salary and another $7.6M in tax. What they added to that was essentially 3 years at $5.2M per year, AND it was reallocated to NOT pay the tax so that we could bring over Splitter THIS YEAR. How is this bad again? We only had a handful of real players plus some non-guaranteed hopefuls under contract. We had to fill out a roster with that HUGE contract hanging over our heads. How was that going to work?

The tax savings are actually even higher...

You have $7.6M tax from RJ, plus another $3M tax from the Splitter signing, plus whatever tax from signing Anderson and Neil, plus whatever they spend on the other kids (Gee/Temple/Hairston). I'm not counting Bonner because he re-signed for the same amount as last season. You also have to add that since we're under the lux tax line, the league will send back a $2.5m redistribution check later down the road.

So the immediate tax savings can easily escalate to about $15m...

[ohmwrecker]

This should be called NBA off season winners. And . . . Chuck D is the .

[Cane]

OK, I ran the math on this one. RJ's 2010-2011 cost was going to be $22.8M, 15.2M in salary and another $7.6M in tax. What they added to that was essentially 3 years at $5.2M per year, AND it was reallocated to NOT pay the tax so that we could bring over Splitter THIS YEAR. How is this bad again? We only had a handful of real players plus some non-guaranteed hopefuls under contract. We had to fill out a roster with that HUGE contract hanging over our heads. How was that going to work?

The tax savings are actually even higher...

You have $7.6M tax from RJ, plus another $3M tax from the Splitter signing, plus whatever tax from signing Anderson and Neil, plus whatever they spend on the other kids (Gee/Temple/Hairston). I'm not counting Bonner because he re-signed for the same amount as last season. You also have to add that since we're under the lux tax line, the league will send back a $2.5m redistribution check later down the road.

So the immediate tax savings can easily escalate to about $15m...

Good stuff for the Spurs and RJ it seems

[ChuckD]

The bonus is that $7.6M is no longer going to be paid the the NBA, and allocated to other teams. F you, Stern.

[Bito Corleone]

So in other words...the two-time defending champions subbed out Farmar for a much more consistent player in Blake and added size and defense to their already stacked lineup by bringing in Barnes and Ratliff. They also grabbed Ebanks and Caracter, two guys with impressive summer league debuts with their two second round picks. And they still may bring back Shannon Brown to limit the amount of turnover on their roster.

Obviously it doesn't trump a mass exodus of top-tier talent to Miami, but I'd say their off-season has been wildly successful given what they had to work with and what they needed to bring in.

Exactly.

[Bito Corleone]

@ Cane

Nice sig man. I laughed my ass off when I saw that on the onion.

[SpursNextRomanEmpire]

Wait, how did the Heat get 4 of the top free agents?

[Kindergarten Cop]

It's a fairly meaningless stat anyways. Every team tighten up their rotation for the playoffs, so you're going to get most of your production from the starters and a couple of first-rate subs.

I wouldn't necessarily say that it is meaningless - but obviously it's not the most important stat since it didn't translate into success in the Playoffs.

EDIT: I guess it didn't really help much that our starters were 28th in the league (out of 30 teams) in Scoring, Rebounds, and Steals.

[Bito Corleone]

Wait, how did the Heat get 4 of the top free agents?

Bron, Wade, Bosh...and Mike Miller

[ElNono]

I wouldn't necessarily say that it is meaningless - but obviously it's not the most important stat since it didn't translate into success in the Playoffs.

EDIT: I guess it didn't really help much that our starters were 28th in the league (out of 30 teams) in Scoring, Rebounds, and Steals.

Don't get me wrong, I meant meaningless in the sense that it's not much of a barometer of playoffs or eventually championship success.

Having a great, even good bench is always much more preferable than having a bad bench. It gives you variants and compe ion for a spot in the final playoff rotation throughout the 82 game season, besides of allowing the team to rest certain key players while remaining compe ive.

[Chieflion]

I wouldn't necessarily say that it is meaningless - but obviously it's not the most important stat since it didn't translate into success in the Playoffs.

EDIT: I guess it didn't really help much that our starters were 28th in the league (out of 30 teams) in Scoring, Rebounds, and Steals.

In reality, the Spurs bench isn't that good. On paper, they look good because they played a lot of minutes, therefore getting more production. Since they played more minutes, the minutes of the starters would also have been reduced and thus production is decreased.

In the playoffs, we saw how ty the bench was once Goran Dragic started waxing our ass.

[Cane]

Imo those bench stats might be inflated due to Ginobili since he mostly came off the bench in the reg season (started 21 out of 75 games played). He helps a lot when it comes to filling up the boxscore but he started in the playoffs so the bench wasn't nearly as effective; not to mention Blair's an undersized rookie, the shooters struggled with open looks, TP wasn't healthy, etc.

[ElNono]

In the playoffs, we saw how ty the bench was once Goran Dragic started waxing our ass.

To Dragic's credit, he kept on waxing them when the starters came back...

[callo1]

I may be wrong but didnt the Spurs have the highest scoring bench last season?

For a period of time they did, but as soon as the playoffs started the bench scoring dropped like a stone. Actually, the period 2 weeks prior to the start of the playoffs, it began. Like normal, when Manu started, the bench suffered, then the whole George hill ankle injury and TP coming back complicated the rotation as well.

[Obstructed_View]

The bonus is that $7.6M is no longer going to be paid the the NBA, and allocated to other teams. F you, Stern.

And it only cost us four years of Richard Jefferson at ten million a year. Call Obama and get him to sign these guys up to tackle the debt! It certainly couldn't have been easier to not have any of his salary on the books or to dump his fifteen million before the trade deadline.

[ChuckD]

And it only cost us four years of Richard Jefferson at ten million a year. Call Obama and get him to sign these guys up to tackle the debt! It certainly couldn't have been easier to not have any of his salary on the books or to dump his fifteen million before the trade deadline.

The Spurs were NEVER going to not have any of his salary. It's painfully obvious that there was a deal structure in place that allowed him to opt out and test the market, other wise he doesn't do it. If he doesn't, and they have to try to peddle his ass (you saw the market for that, or lack thereof) , we have a much worse looking roster, probably devoid of all but one of the kiddies, and maybe no Splitter at all. It would have been another tax bound wasted year, one of the two that Duncan has left.

[mytespurs]

Was the Spurs FA not too glamorous or mind blowing for some fans?

Of course, the Heat win the prize for getting the FA trophy: LBJ & + "robin" aka Bosh plus added pieces. Chicago did well and the Lakers, the champs-well, you know the old saying the "rich appeared to get richer" at least on paper.

I think the Spurs did okay in FA. I'm glad we signed Splitter-everyone seems high on him. I don't expect too much from him in 2010 but if his upside is good, it will pay off down the line. I'm not too happy with the resigning of Bonner & Jefferson based on performances from past season. Don't know if Bonner will get better than what he is, I hope RJ turns into the player we thought we were getting in 2009.

My 5th ring fantasty: 2012, TD's last year, Spurs are viewed as "done". They have a good-not great regular season, about 45 wins, a lower seed entry into the playoffs. But somehow they put it all together, get through the West and come face to face with the beast in the East-the Heat and somehow, miraculously, win the le! 2012: TD and Splitter side by side, TD hoisting MVP trophy and Splitter hositing championship trophy. What the heck, I can dream can't I? :-)

[gospursgojas]

He (tiago) was considered the top Euro big man and he signed for next to nothing. He got as much money as 12th man Johan Petro.